Areas of Expertise

Biography

The goal of my research is to understand better Sustainability Science, which I address
using three different approaches: network analysis, integrated environmental assessment,
and complex systems science. Sustainability Science is a critically important area
that encompasses a broad range of research interests including ecosystem services,
biodiversity, natural resources, human cultures, and specific environments. I use
network analysis to investigate thermodynamic sustainability indicators. These indicators
are often referred to as ecological goal functions, which are used to describe the
direction of development that ecosystem properties such as energy or exergy flow,
biomass production, or respiration undergo during succession. These metrics help understand
the overall behavior and health of that system and its response due to perturbations.
A main advantage to using network analysis is the ability to view the ecosystem as
a connected web of interactions. I like to think that it is a more holistic approach
because it considers the behavior of individual compartments as embedded in a larger
network of interactions. I am also interested in how ecosystems interact with human
systems and vice versa. Integrated environmental assessment is an interdisciplinary
and social process linking knowledge and action in public policy aimed at identifying
and analyzing interactions of natural and human processes which determine both the
current and future states of environmental quality.